Barnaby Joyce affair: Lucy Turnbull reaches out to Barnaby Joyce’s estranged wife

Malcolm Turnbull reveals his wife Lucy has reached out to Barnaby Joyce’s estranged wife Natalie in the wake of the love-child scandal.

Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy at the Melbourne Chinese New Year Festival Picture: David Geraghty

Malcolm Turnbull says Barnaby Joyce never told him of his relationship with his pregnant former press secretary Vikki Campion, but won’t say whether he ever asked his deputy about the rumours he admits he heard “about the same time, possibly later than others”.

The Prime Minister also revealed his wife Lucy had been in contact with Mr Joyce’s estranged wife Natalie since news of the affair broke.

Asked when he first heard of the relationship, Mr Turnbull said: “Barnaby at no time said to me that he was in a sexual relationship with this woman, with this Vikki Campion.”

“He never made that admission, I suppose, to me,” Mr Turnbull told 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell. “I cannot recall when I first heard a rumour about it, but probably about the same time, possibly later than others.”

Mitchell earlier said he believed affairs between politicians and staff had been going on in Canberra since “Day One”, including during his time in the press gallery when Billy McMahon was prime minister in the early 1970s.

“Parliament House as you would also know, and I imagine this was true in Billy McMahon’s time is full of rumours, but ultimately ministers have the obligation to comply with the ministerial code of conduct,” Mr Turnbull said.

Asked whether he had considered asking Mr Joyce whether the rumours were true, Mr Turnbull refused to go into private discussions, “other than to say that at no stage did he say to me he was having sexual relations with this lady.”

Challenged over whether he had known about the affair “for months” before addressing it, Mr Turnbull said Mitchell was making an “assumption”.

“You’re saying that I knew about it. It was not ever confirmed to me by Barnaby Joyce, and the only way you can know that two people are in a sexual relationship, frankly, is if one or both of them confirm it,” he said.

“There are many, many rumours, there are many things that people claim to know. I’m not going to go into the private discussions about it.”

Asked whether Mr Joyce had mislead him about whether the affair was happening, Mr Turnbull again declined to speak about the matter.

“I’m not going to go into those discussions because it is very important that I am able to have confidential discussions with ministers, often about sensitive matters,” he said.

Asked whether he trusted Mr Joyce, Mr Turnbull said he did.

“Yes, I do trust him. I think the, yes I do. Of course,” he said.

‘Luce has reached out to Natalie’

Mr Turnbull said he had not spoken to Mr Joyce’s wife Natalie about the affair, but his wife Lucy had.

“I know Lucy has contacted her, but I think it’s, it’s not something I would directly contact Natalie,” he said.

“I mean I know Natalie obviously, but I think that’s ... Luce has reached out, as have a lot of people, but these are very, very delicate and difficult matters and you have to conduct yourself in a way that tries to minimise or mitigate the pain that is already created.”

Asked whether Mr Joyce had questions to answer about his use of public money in relation to the affair, Mr Turnbull said ministers had to account for the spending.

“In every respect Barnaby Joyce has given me an absolutely unequivocal assurance that he has complied with all of the requirements of the ministerial code and indeed the rules about entitlements and travel, and documented his returns and reports on that scrupulously, so if anyone believes he has not done that, then they’re entitled to say so and ask him to be accountable for it,” he said

“He is accountable for it.”

Turnbull stands by ‘very strong comments’

Asked whether he blamed Mr Joyce for the government going backwards in the polls and creating a distraction, Mr Turnbull said he did not want to add tension to the relationship.

“We have had some words, I made some very strong comments on Thursday,” he said.

“I stand by all of them. They needed to be made. They did. Barnaby reacted to them.

“And now we move on and get on with good government, and I don’t want to be adding to them.

Mr Turnbull said Bill Shorten faced a challenge over his “values”, in failing to support his ban on ministers having sex with their staff.

“Australians know what my values are. I do not believe, in fact I have made it very clear, it’s not a belief, I have made it very clear, that while I am Prime Minister, ministers must not have sexual relations with their staff,” he said.

“Bill Shorten hasn’t endorsed that, so what is Bill Shorten saying? Is he saying that he wants to be prime minister so ministers can have sexual relations with their staff? Where does he stand on this?”

Asked whether he was questioning Mr Shorten’s morality, Mr Turnbull said he was not, but was questioning whether Mr Shorten wanted to support his rule.

“I think it is very clear that there has been a degree of greyness, moral ambiguity, about issues like this where people have felt, many people have felt, others have had different views, that these are private matters, and my point simply is, from the 15th of February, because of the change I’ve made to the ministerial code of conduct, ministers must not have sexual relations with their staff. Full stop.

“So there’s no longer any ambiguity, any greyness. It’s not private. If you do that, then you should offer your resignation.”

Mr Turnbull said he would “certainly, absolutely” sack any minister who broke the rule.

“I would expect them to resign. I wouldn’t expect I’d need to sack them.”

Turnbull ‘doesn’t know” whether Barnaby is safe

Mr Turnbull said he did not know whether Mr Joyce was safe as Deputy Prime Minister, because it was a matter for the National Party.

“Are you asking me whether he commands the support of the majority of members of the National Party? I don’t know,” he said.

“He says he does. Others have said he does, but these are all matters in the gift of the National party room.

“A party room I might add, which I have never sought to influence in any way.”

Asked whether there was any circumstance which might cause Mr Joyce to step down, Mr Turnbull said he was not going to speculate.

“A person’s leadership of a political party is really determined, comes to an end, leaving aside death or misadventure it comes to an end in two ways: either the person resigns or their party room decides they want someone else to be the leader,” he said.